President Barack Obama came under fire Friday for indicating in an off-the-record interview with columnists that he didn’t “fully appreciate” the anxiety following the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino because he didn’t watch enough cable television.

The comment, which was reported Thursday by the New York Times based on conversations with people in the room at the time, became fodder for outraged posts on conservative websites and fresh criticism of the president by commentators on Fox News ahead of his visit to San Bernardino, during which he planned to meet with first responders and the families of the victims of the attacks.

His tweet was credited with getting the outrage ball rolling and spurring defenses of the president by his supporters.

“I imagine he’s probably a little busy to watch the serpent eat its tail all day,” wrote Richard Ray, news editor for the Chicago Tribune’s The Pioneer Press, in a Twitter reply.

The story took a turn for the conspiratorial a few micro-news cycles later when the section about the president’s cable television comment was excised from the NYT report.

“NY Times Stealth-Edits Article to Remove Embarrassing Obama Admission,” read the headline on a post filed Friday to Mediaite, a news and opinion blog.

The NYT claimed the section was removed from both the online and print version of the story for space considerations but social media types pointed out the edited version actually ended up adding words to the piece.

FOX News’ website slotted a piece about the cable TV comments on its home page above a post about the president’s visit to San Bernardino.

In addition to criticizing the length of Obama’s visit to the Inland Empire and the timing, coming more than two weeks after the attack, much of the online snark directed toward the president included some variation of, “He’s only stopping in San Bernardino because it’s on the way to Hawai’i.”

“Obama in San Bernardino today in a stop over to Hawaii, 16 days after attack. He was in Charleston the day after shooting. Delivered eulogy,” wrote Jessica Chasmar, a writer for The Washington Times, in a Twitter post.

Aaron Claverie covers Temecula and Murrieta for The Press-Enterprise. The San Diego State graduate has covered everything from the swirling form of a bullfighter to the machinations at city hall during a career that has included stops in Washington D.C., the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas and Arizona, Baja California, the Imperial Valley and Silicon Valley. He has been honored for both his work as an editor and reporter, including a first place award from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. In addition to his coverage of city affairs, Claverie has helped out on both the entertainment and sports desks over the years, covering the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Comic-Con International San Diego, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, the NFL, NCAA football, MLS, NBA and MLB.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.